So most of you know, I got hit by a deer while riding my 79 GL1000. I needed to figure out what to do with her, she is beat up as bad or worse than I am. So I looked at new to me bikes or rebuilding and while I was deciding a deal came up on a complete titled 1980 GL1100 that made the decision. So plan is when I can get into the shop in a few more months to strip my bike and assess what is usable then use the 80 and build a new 2-up mile eater. Pics below of the 2 bikes that will become one. The 80 has 8600 KM's and is in pretty good shape. I want to keep my frame if possible for title purposes because I will have to pay taxes and license on the new frame if I put it in my name. However I can if I need to which is nice. I'll post up more as I get into the shop, still on crutches or wheel chair and can't really work on anything yet.

What's left after a 200 lb deers hits your front wheel, then lands on you and then the bike does. Fun.

New to me GL. Needs a good cleanup etc. and I will not be using the fairing or most of the farkles etc. but the fenders, forks etc. will all get freshened up and used.

Hey I hope it isn't necessary to come out and tell you to avoid the crash-damaged chassis? Move everything over - it's a good opportunity to bead-blast and clear-coat the engine (seen some lovely Sand-Cast SOHC engine cases done like that - might it even have been original?) AND do the frame. That Guzzi site with all of the cheezy silicone tits, thong underwear and hairspray overkill in their "Guzzi Girls" section (Sorry, I might have grown up in the '80s, but I was into the punk-rock GRRRLz from the get-go - So while the razor's out? Gimme a shaved HEAD to look at while you're about it!) Cough - The GUZZI site sez that their powder-coat with laquer paint sprayed over-TOP of it, is supposed to last the life of the bike. Sounds like it would add some weight ha-ha, but it actually looks pretty good. DAMN though, I love me some Nekkid 'Wings!

Hey - I love me some Comstars but they need widening - So if you're gonna use the Comstar rims, check out Akront "NERVI" rims. I've posted about 'em on the cb1100f.net site just recently. Some VERY cool upgrades to the basic Comstar package! I shouldn't even yap about it until I get the rims for MY bike first! But yeah - let's say you've got the GL1100 and you wanna stick some wire-spoke wheels on it? Check out the weld-up HUB method, done on a CB900C (same rear end and diff, wheel hub etc, as the GL1100 so worth referencing!) over on the cb750c.com 'Custom-munity/'Custom-mutiny - by a member known as "6pkrunner"! The shaft hub is spooled down to a plug on the lathe, then a drum hub is hollowed out from side-to-side, and then a fillet weld sticks 'em together on both sides. Maybe even some Solder-Braze material to fill in any hollows? If you're worried about alignment, drill holes along the center-line of both hubs, maybe even tap 'em? The Comstar hub aligns the center of the "lugs" to the center of the rim. So too with the wire-spoke version, the cooling rings at the center of the SOHC drum are centered with the rim also. So those holes line up, say at least three of 'em, and you're ready to weld it up. Heck the bolts could even stay in there if you weren't too fussy. The thing which most appeals to ME, other than the future use of this method for a Sabre/Magna based homage to the CZ Type 860 that I wanna build NEXT, is that a hub like this even has applications on a CHAIN-DRIVE bike, just so long as it gives you a light-weight rear hub. HOW? Well for starters, don't use the 190mm drum for the circumference! What else has 40-holes? There's a KZ400 rear hub with flanges a wee bit smaller, IIRC the drum's only 180mm though it might be 160mm - maybe that's only the 36-hole version.....

(((I really ought to know the difference, as besides my "CB900K0 Bol Bomber", my OTHER build is a "KZ440LOL" - and they BOTH have a wire-wheel swap using OEM hubs - and I'm building both 40-spoke AND 36-spoke rear hubs for the KZ....)))

Just sayin' - when you get into a wire-wheel swap for a bigger bike, and you want a rear disc, a 20mm axle AND a cush-drive? There isn't much out there besides these absolute boat anchor hubs such as this here CB750F1, the KZ1000LTD & 48-hole version off KZ1000CSR, plus GS1000, and modern stuff off of cruisers, or the modern wire-spoke CB1100 with it's cruiser-esque rear hub with the high spoke count. What IS that spoke count, by the way? Well - let's just say that Honda really fucked up, right?

But yeah - think of how it's much like the Kosman RIM widening method, but not only on a smller scale, but also requires far less accuracy due to the wire-spokes themselves straightening out the wheel's run-out - If Kosman wheels were on average $500 USD per wheel, could it not then be possible to do rear hub conversions on an exchange-basis for somewhere around $200-$300 for that rear hub? And then use some standard sizes and spoke lacings, so as to apply an economy of scale to rims and spoke sets, the like of which only HARLEY owners and dirt-bike enthusiasts now enjoy??? Just think of it - you could put spoke wheels on ANYTHING. More to the point - EVERYTHING!

But hey - if you're a Comstar enthusiast, I've got a line on 3.00x18" Akront NERVI rims, in either silver or gold anodize. New old stock mind you, as Akront is now MORAD, right? I just haven't snapped one up 'cause I haven't yet found a 4.25x18" to match it. OR a 3.50x18", 'cause the wheel-sets I'm building for my 985 are 2.50x18" & 3.50x18", as well as 3.00x18" with 4.25x18", as well as a THIRD set using 3.50x16" with yet another 4.25x18" just to keep things interesting. I've got probably another dozen FAT odd-ball Aluminum rims on hand too, all of 'em would make some fantastic wheels sets for the likes of a DOHC-four or a WING for that matter! 40-hole Super-Moto rims in 4.25x17" & 5.00x17" - ah, but they're drilled for the HARLEY rear hub, so while they're good for a chain-drive, a shaft would be a tricky application. Would be awesome on a 'Wing though......

ANYWAY YEAH - I was talking about the NERVI rims - that's what got me started on the 4.25x18" tangent:

'Cause here's the stats you wanna keep in mind here. I took a stock Black/Reverse five-point Comstar CB900F rear wheel apart, and it's D.I.D. 2.50x18" rim weighs the same as the Akront 40-hole 4.25x18" rim. If we're to guess at how much heavier a 5.00x18" is, and assume that a 2.50x18" is approximately half of that? It's probably safe to say the Akront is half the weight of the D.I.D. Comstar five-point hollow-shouldered rim. And the "Boomerang" type in the same size 2.50x18" front wheel is plenty heavier than the 2.15x19" front I've got on hand - pretty safe to say, even just from gauging the thickness of these non- hollow shouldered Boomerang type rims are a LOT heavier than the five-point type. Which is to say, even if you can't lay hands on an Aront NERVI for the front wheel, a five-point 2.75x18" from a rear pro-link CBX wheel would be a lighter option than that stock Boomerang front in 2.50x18" - and the GL1100A 2.50x18" Black/Reverse Comstar front wheel is probably the best for both front AND rear wheels. Heck, one really interesting interpretation just using OEM parts for a rebuilt COMSTAR rim-set for the 'Wing, would be the 2.75x18" rear with 2.50x18" front. Sporty, and a lower RPM at highway speeds. Heck, the P.O. of my DOHC 985 had squeezed a 140/80-18 onto the 2.50x18" rim. I'd feel a heck of a lot better about it being on the 2.75" rim - better still with a 3.50x18" minimum. So too, the 3.00x16" rear from CB900C - though IIRC those hollow-shouldered Comstars only went up to 2.50" even in the 16" rear. For 3.00" & 3.50" you've gotta go to the Boomerang type. Now how interesting would it be to put Boomerang rims on a 'WING??? 3.00x18" or 3.50x17" from CBX750F or VF1000F in each of their two respective versions - heck maybe even the 2.50x16" front for that matter. The KEY would be in figuring out how to fit the CX500T or CX650T or CX650E rear hub onto the Goldwing "Pumpkin". Any which way you slice it, the key is in rebuilding the Comstars. The French have it down to the reproduction rivets with the "HONDA" raised lettering on the head of each end. But most folks just use aircraft-grade nuts & bolts. What I DON'T recommend are the bolt-up flange plates for wire-spoke conversion - if only 'cause they'd add so much extra weight. If only there were in Aluminum, but even so the weld-up method is gonna weigh a lot less - AND it might very well cost a lot less, too! One expense to consider is the air-craft grade hardware. That stuff's not only gonna weigh as much as a set of 40 wire spokes just in and of themselves, it's also gonna COST the same or more!

Well - I don't wanna type out my ENTIRE "Comstar Manifesto" right here - it's over on the CB1100F.net site if a person wants to know ALL of my thoughts on the subject!

Suffice it to say - WELD-UP HUBS, and AKRONT NERVI RIMS - perhaps even both of 'em put together?

OH - and lest I forget? "WING THING" RICKMAN CHASSIS with prototype GL1000 engine from 1972-1973, and it's follow-up incarnation as a SIDE-CAR RACER, subsequent restoration -AS well as the Swiss "DLF" or "DONQUE" '75 GL1000 based ENDURANCE RACER which ran in the '76 BOL D'OR as well as other events - "Wing Thing" ran qualifying laps in the IOMTT how's THAT for changing people's image of the Goldwing???

Ah, yes - and one last seed I'd wish to plant in the ears of any & all 'Wing owners, is my idea for my "CB900K0 Bol Bomber" - of using the GL1500 front end with a "HUB" from the PC800 Pacific Coast, for a "Faux-Leading-Shoe" fake drum hub! What better place to use it than on a Racing 'Wing?

-Sigh.

JUST A TASTE!

POST SCRIPT:

What you wanna look is for the restored survivor specimen with the black frame, 'cause it's the better of the three/four specimens of Endurance Racer which I've seen pics of, with the fat 18"/18" rims and 296mm rotors from early CB750K rather than 276mm stockers from the GL1000 etc. IT'S using Lockheed calipers, in original racing guise it seems to use some type of thick-tube Marzocchi fork - but I picture a replica using 41mm TRAC forks from GL1200 or GL1500, VF Interceptor even - but if not that, the GL1100A 39mm fork with 296mm rotors, or CBX Pro-Link or CB900F 39mm fork with the CBX pro-link caliper hangers. Ah, but you don't HAVE TO use the vented 296mm rotors like CB1100R type of thing - there's the early SOHC CB750K rotors AND there's even a five-bolt version of that from the CB750A with the Comstar wheels and single front rotor! Which should weigh WAAAAAY ... WEIGHHHHH, less than the double-thick vented type from CB1100R/GL1100A/CBXpro-link etc - and also GL1200 in certain versions. Though from what I gather, there were also some smaller versions of vented rotors on the GL1200 so it's a vague grey area for ME at least. The point being, a DOHC or later 'Wing fork, with early SOHC single-thickness rotors. Ideally, a TRACK fork. OR if you're truly adventurous, the "Faux-Leading-Shoe" thing I was talking about.

Thanks Guys! Wow that first post is a lot to digest! Soy boy, I won't use my frame if there is any chance it is tweaked at all, and the enduro racer look is rad and down the road very possible, but this bike has to be the one the wife and I can go on rides for days and days in comfort so won't be this one.

Well I got to tinker on the bikes for the first time since my crash. The gl has deer hair and fat and blood all over. Coolant leak is a lose hose clamp. Frame appears straight but I got to do a little more measuring to be 100%/ big thing is, I can't shift with the regular shifter. The heal toe I bought doesn't bolt where I thought it would so I can use it on either the cx or gl but I'm going g to need to fab a bracket and get it welded. Or buy floor boards which I don't want. I can sit comfortable on the bikes with my fused foot but gonna need something to help shifting. More to come as I can get longer time In the shop.

Thanks. I am stripping broken parts off. Cleaning fat and blood and hair and seeing what is broken. Battery is shot no electrolyte left. Frame looks better the more I remove. No cracks, chipped paint from flex etc. Found my coolant leak, main hose knocked lose on water pump. I had to stop after half hour though. Longest I could stand up.